Lithified carbonate sediment and zeolitic tuff in basalts, Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Basaltic boulders dredged from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge contain lithified coccolith-foraminiferal ooze in fractures and small pockets. Textural and isotopic studies of this sediment provide no evidence for high temperature metamorphism. The lithified carbonate sediment occurs together with palagonitized basaltic glass and zeolitic tuff, and appears to have been squeezed into cracks and other voids within the congealed margins of partly-cooled basalt pillows which intruded soft carbonate ooze. Thermal metamorphism probably was precluded by rapid heat dissipation in convecting pore waters and by the thermal stability of calcareous microplankton. Low temperature alteration of basaltic glass appears to have provided the chemical milieu for precipitation of calcite cement as well as zeolites in the sediment.